


im not a man of substance, and so ill pretend

by flish_writes_things



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not Canon Compliant, Suicidal Thoughts, Tags Are Hard, Tommy and Techno are brothers, aka a total bitch, canon typical dream, everyone is probably pretty ooc and you know what? good, give techno "beat up dream" rights 2020, i do not know how to tag cries, no beta we die like Tubbo at the festival, shippers please dni this is a family dynamic only zone, takes place after butcher army events!!, tommy is deaf sobs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28322175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flish_writes_things/pseuds/flish_writes_things
Summary: Tommy's deaf, and running from his only friend. Techno finds him.title from since i saw vienna by wilbur soot!
Relationships: Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 655
Collections: mcyt favorites





	im not a man of substance, and so ill pretend

**Author's Note:**

> this fic was written by someone who is not deaf so huge apologies for any inaccuracies
> 
> cw!! tommy is sorta suicidal at first, mentions of death and killing (no actual fights!), quite a lot of food mentions, tommy has a panic attack, and just general angst yknow. please be safe!!

He really, really shouldn’t be surprised.

Tommy’s practically the _king_ of bad ideas, so it’s no wonder that he’s ran away, like a _coward_ , instead of just jumping. He hates this. The snow hurts the more he drags his feet through it, and he’s not got enough energy to try and stave off any mobs. Self-hatred swirls in his mind like a storm, and he can’t stop thinking about if he hadn’t jumped into the water.

The snow is cold, and the air around him is cold too. He can’t hear anything, hasn’t been able to since Wilbur- 

..because of that, he only knows that there’s mobs around because he can’t stop himself from looking, eyes darting everywhere. The snow is one of the worst places he could be; strays are far more dangerous than ordinary skeletons and he can’t afford to get hurt right now, far less hit with a slowness arrow.

He wonders, would it be better to die here? Out in the cold, where he could maybe get the last laugh as Dream would never find his body?

His feet still drag through the snow, despite him wanting to lie down and just relax, finally and truly relax, instead of all his responsibilities, instead of all his burdens, instead of _Dream,_ instead of light bouncing off the snow into his eyes, instead of-

Light?

He forces himself back to the present, and looks at the light. Blinks a little and rubs his eyes.

“Well,” he whispers under his breath, teeth chattering furiously to try and preserve some heat, “if that isn’t a sign I don’t know what is,” and he starts walking towards it.

* * *

As it turns out, the light was not, in fact, a figment of his imagination, but instead a house; windows open, lights left on, a real piece of work. He doesn’t stop to consider the implications of a house in the middle of nowhere, where it could hardly be found by anyone who wasn’t either looking for it or completely and utterly desperate.

There’s _food_ inside the house. Genuine actual food, and water, and everything good that Tommy could never have with Dream. His thoughts take a sharp 180 then, going from _“hell yes, real food!”_ to _“oh god i’ve abandoned my only friend he’ll hurt me if he finds me he’ll hurt me i can’t trust anyone he’s my friend i can only trust him i can’t trust him he’ll hurt me”_ and continuing, continuing, spiralling.

His body, though, moves still of its own accord, grabbing some nice enchanted diamond armour and a diamond sword. He intends to leave, then, go back and hide this stuff, hide it even better, in the ocean maybe? Yeah, sounds like a plan-

He sees door downstairs swing open out of the corner of his eye, through a little hole for a ladder, and he freezes in place. The person seems to not be coming upstairs, which is good, but on the other hand he has no idea who it is on account of Dream having taken his hearing aids, having cast them onto the TNT like they were nothing, the last thing he heard was _“worthless-”_

He can’t keep this stuff. He _can’t_ keep this stuff. Slowly, carefully, he takes it off, puts it back in the chest where he found it, and oh-so-slowly pushes open the doors that he came in through. It doesn’t matter that he has nowhere else to go; he _can’t_ risk this, he can’t lose it all again, not again, please, he didn’t mean to, he just-

A hand on his shoulder shakes him out of his thoughts and he flinches, pushing forward and away, turning around to see-

“Fuck.” he says, probably pretty loud, falling back onto the fence and pressing against it as though being further away will help him.

It’s Technoblade. 

The Blood God, the one who killed Tubbo, the one who summoned _two_ Withers onto L’Manburg, the one who- who predicted Tommy’s exile, his _brother,_ and by the looks of his facial expressions, he’s yelling at Tommy. He’s in full iron armour, holding a pickaxe and god he’s going to kill Tommy, he’s absolutely going to, he’s never worried about killing people in the past why would he now? It’s not like he cares about him. 

  
Perhaps it’s instinct, trained into him by Dream that he starts begging for his life, stumbling over his words, probably not making any sense.

“Please, please D- Techno, please, I didn’t, I was, lost, I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry, I’m sorry please don’t kill me please I’m on my last life please I’m so sorry I- I can tell you how to get to L’Manburg, I’ll give you everything I have please just don’t kill me Techno please, please, I’m so sorry, please, I- I don’t have anything left,” and somewhere in his rambling he loses the little bit of awareness he had, and starts begging someone else for mercy.

“I- I’m so sorry, I’ll make it up to you, Dream, please, please you’re my only friend Dream, please, please don’t hurt me, please, I-”

Something jabs him, gently but with meaning, in the chest. He opens his eyes.

Techno’s holding out hearing aids. He’s taken the iron helmet off, and his pickaxe lays somewhere inside the house. Shakily and fumbling with his hands, he takes the hearing aids, puts them on, and promptly cringes, curling up a little.

The wind is very, very loud, not to mention the strays and the zombies and everything that he can hear. It’s so cold. _He’s_ so cold.

Techno speaks loudly to ensure that he can be heard.

“You should come inside,” his voice is monotone but Tommy knows, from years of speaking with him, that Techno’s _worried_ , “looks pretty cold out there.”

“Yeah- yeah, I, I should. You’re, uh, not going to-”

“If I wanted to kill you I would’ve done so a while ago. Come inside.”

With that, he turns and walks back into his house. It takes Tommy a couple seconds to get up and follow, and he closes the doors behind him. Techno’s making food - some kind of soup, it seems - and isn’t looking at Tommy. It’s such a small thing, but Tommy knows that it’s big for Techno. Being a hybrid, he still retains some of the more animalistic instincts, one of which being to never turn his back on anyone that he doesn’t trust. It’s probably just to show Tommy that he’s not going to hurt him, but it still matters to Tommy.

It matters a lot. Dream would never have done that.

Neither of them say anything until after the food is done. Tommy was right, it _was_ soup - which he hates, but it was a specific kind of soup which he actually likes, the ingredients of which are not commonplace.

“So,” says Techno, in that sort of commanding-but-gentle tone, “What happened to make you start beggin’ _Dream_ not to kill you, instead of me?”

“I- I don’t,” he can’t talk about it, he really can’t, but he has to, Techno’s accommodating him it’s the least he can do, and oh god he’s almost crying, isn’t he?

“You don’t have to say if you don’t want to. I get that it’s probably hard to think about and that you’d rather not. Do you want me to take you back to Dream?”

Tommy can’t answer that one either, because he does burst into tears then, sobbing his poor little heart out. When Techno pulls him into a hug, he doesn’t resist, and if Techno rubbing Tommy’s back helps him calm down, well, that’s for Tommy to know. When Tommy stops crying, he doesn’t move to release from the hug, and neither does Techno.

“I don’t want to go back.” he says, having turned his head to ensure that Techno could actually hear him. 

“Okay.” says Techno in return, and that’s all he says. He doesn’t push nor prod as to why, doesn’t make fun of Tommy, doesn’t tell him that he needs to no matter what he wants.

“Techno, he- he blew up my hearing aids, Techno.” Tommy says after a minute or so of comfortable silence. He doesn’t say it quietly. He doesn’t want to have to repeat it, and so hopes that Techno hears.

“I’m sorry, he _blew them up_?!”

“Yeah.”

“What for?”

“Well, he- he said that I hadn’t earned them, like I hadn’t earned the- the rest of the stuff, that I had, that I wasn’t supposed to have.” He’s crying again now, and Techno shushes him gently.

“I’m.. I’m sorry, Tommy,” There isn’t an ounce of insincerity in Techno’s voice, and after a moment or two of thinking, he says, “does he have your discs?”

“My- No, they’re still in L’Manburg. I haven’t really been thinking about them, honestly.”

“Then let’s get them.” The conviction in Techno's voice is almost enough to convince Tommy that it's possible.

“I’m _banned,_ Techno. If I go back he’ll build huge walls and trap everyone inside.”

The mutter of _jesus fucking christ i’m going to kill that masked fucker_ does not go unnoticed, but Tommy doesn’t mention it.

“We’ll just sneak in. I can brew invisibility potions. They won’t know a thing.”

“Why, though? Why are you doing this?”

“Dad’s- Phil’s on house arrest, and they took all my weapons and my armour. I want those things back, Tommy, and if it means helpin’ my little brother along the way, so be it. Plus, _you_ deserve to have things of your own.”

And, well, if Tommy bursts into tears again and Techno laughs before comforting him? That’s for him and Techno to know.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!! please remember to hydrate properly, and feel free to leave kudos or comments if you enjoyed this!! as most writers do, i live on kudos and comments, so if you have something to say feel free to say it!!


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